House in the Forest, Mitsumasa Anno Museum (森の中の家 安野光雅館)

Wakuden began in 1870, early in the Meiji era, as an inn-restaurant at Kyotango, in northern Kyoto Prefecture. In 2007 the company set about growing a forest on this land where it began, with the guidance of the ecologist Akira Miyawaki (宮脇昭): 56 species and 30,000 trees have been planted since. The museum opened in the middle of this forest on 23 June 2017.

It is dedicated to Mitsumasa Anno (安野光雅), a painter born in 1926 in Shimane Prefecture who died in 2020, whose first picture book, which became one of his best-known works, was a great success around the world.

The museum was conceived to stand quietly in the forest, in keeping with the gentleness of Anno's watercolours. A long corridor precedes the entrance; the outer walls, of cedar boards, melt into the landscape. In the galleries, small openings let daylight in and let visitors sense the nature outside while looking at the paintings.

The museum shows Anno's watercolours, landscapes and scenes of life from around the world. The grounds also hold a workshop restaurant, MORI Wakuden, whose cooking makes room for produce harvested in the forest, and a museum shop.

The museum is open from 9:30 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30). It is closed on Tuesdays, the following day when Tuesday is a public holiday, and from 29 December to 2 January.